The 3,500 strong police force of Saint Petersburg provided the main opposition to the rioting which marked the initial outbreak of the February Revolution. After the army units garrisoning the city defected, the police became the main target of the revolutionaries and a number were killed. The Police of the Russian Empire was dissolved on March 10, 1917, and on April 17 the Provisional Government established the People's Militia (Militsiya) as a new law enforcement body.

Russian police reform (Закон РФ "о полиции" (Zakon RF "O politsii" {Law on police}) is an ongoing effort initiated by President Dmitry Medvedev to improve the efficiency of Russia's police forces, decrease corruption and improve the public image of law enforcement. On 7 February 2011, amendments were made to laws on the police force, the criminal code and the criminal procedure code. The amendments came into force on 1 March 2011. These changes stipulate a personnel cut of 20% in law enforcement, a renaming of Russian law enforcers from "militsiya" (militia) to "politsiya" (police), substantial increases in wages, centralisation of financing, and several other changes. Around 217 billion rubles ($7 billion) have been allocated from the federal budget to finance the reform.

Name change. Under the reform, the name of Russian law enforcers was changed from the Soviet-era term "militsiya" (militia) to the more universal "politsiya" (police) on 1 March 2011.[3][4]

Personnel reduction and salary increase. The number of police officers will be reduced by 20%, dropping from 1.28 million to 1.1 million by 2012. The reduction will be accomplished via a comprehensive evaluation of all officers. The evaluation will be conducted before June 2011, and those failing the evaluation will end up losing their jobs. All officers who in the past have received administrative penalties or who have links to the criminal underworld will be fired.[5] For those officers surviving the reduction, salaries will be increased by 30%.

Centralisation. As a result of the reform, the Russian police will be made a federal-level institution, with funding accomplished fully from the federal budget. Under the old system, police units responsible for public order and petty crimes were under the jurisdiction of regional and city authorities, financed from regional budget and responsible more to the regional governors than to the federal center.[6]

Changes to police and detainee rights. According to the new law, the detainee will receive a right to make a telephone call within 3 hours of the detention. He will also receive the right to have a lawyer and interpreter from the moment of his detention, and police must inform the detainee of his rights and duties. The police will lose its right to carry out and demand checks of a company's financial and business activities. Police may also no longer detain a citizen for an hour just to verify his identity.[7]